The half empty, half full thing
by Gothicruby
Summary: They never thought Stork would need to return home; they didn't think he'd need to see his mother. They certainly never thought his mother could be pregnant! Poor Stork; he's unfortunately got alot to prove right now.


**Glass half empty**

Clouds.

A groan escaped as his elongated ears perked up slightly.

Clouds were supposed to mean freedom.

His puffy, sleep deprived eyes blinked slower and slower with each passing moment; if he hadn't been driving then chances are he would have been asleep hours ago.

The sky was supposed to represent boundless opportunity away from home.

Another groan as the scrawny Merb checked the speed of the Condor

"Steady as she goes..." a dry mutter.

So; if clouds meant freedom and the sky meant opportunity away from home, then Stork had just one question: Why the **hell **was he almost blindly steering all the way back to Terra Merb just because his bleeding mother was pregnant??

"Oh, that's right..." he snidely began to narrate "Because it's tradition, because it's family! Because if I don't she'll fuc-"

"Stork!"

"GYAH!!"

Stork's imminent shriek bounced off the metal-plated walls of the ship, a shriek that was perfectly timed with the entire carrier doing a 360 degree triple barrel roll of complete panic! Well let's just say the pilot had a promising career as a cloud-whisker in a worst-case-unemployment scenario.

It was a complete haze in Aerrow's eyes for a few minutes; he could make out shapes and shouts echoing down the hallway. But for some _unfathomable_ reason, he just couldn't place when exactly his centre of gravity had become symbiotically linked with the right-wing wall of the ship's bridge.

Oh sure; he could get _why_ Stork had reacted the way he had, hell, he could even understand the pre-adult needing a few seconds to get the ship back under control. What he couldn't understand was why _exactly_ Stork saw it fit to allow his beloved carrier ship to continue flying at such an **odd**, vertically slanted angle!It was just mind boggling!

Alas; what use was it to lose one's temper? Especially since Aerrow was quite renowned for his level headedness. The teenage captain found it helpful to, at times like these, just take a deep breath, open his eyes, and for the love of all that was holy; just try and get the pilot to turn the ship right-side-up so he could please get away from whatever was stabbing him in the back.

"Stork?..." it was probably better to ease into the matter; Aerrow reasoned.

A staggered breath of acknowledgement escaped from the shaking Merb's knock-kneed frame; thank god he still had hold of the controls, that's all anybody could say.

"Stork...buddy, think you can let us up?"

The gentle voice didn't seem to do anything for Stork; he just stood there: Knuckles going white from gripping the controls so intensely and eyes just so wide beyond belief; even for Stork!

"Because ya know; the Condor's a **big** girl Stork...she can't take it," he squirmed; it was probably Radaar trying to claw through his armour just to be able to breathe.

It took a minute; but before the young captain knew, he was back on the ground of the ship, face flat on the floor in the most undignified position you could imagine (Which considering his already controversial position as 'youngest Sky Knight'—it was just insult to injury!) and his furry little companion right on top of him, claws dug into the metal plated armour quite deep.

A groan, a stagger and wince from the growing complaints from down the hall later; Aerrow was back on his feet, ready to stare confusedly at his ever-skittish pilot.

Now normally he'd be up there complaining with his friends; but...well today was just different. One look at his friend's pathetic position; hunched over the controls, and...Well he was just ready to go over and start comforting: No matter **how** small the situation.

"Umm...Stork?" he was extremely careful to be extra quiet this time; lest they all end up walking on their hands on the ceiling. A quiet whimper like croon escaped the Merb as he turned to face the Sky Knight; ears flattened slightly.

Oh how could Aerrow even get remotely upset at such a timid, yet pathetic, pose? He couldn't ever say it out loud, but well...Sometimes Aerrow just plain felt sorry for Stork.

"What's up with you? You're jumpier than usual today," his hands came up in the typical 'open-talk to me' posture "You ok?" Green eyes then wandered to the controls of the Condor "And where are we even going?"

It was then that a little bit of awkwardness seemed to cake the air thickly. The green skinned teen instantly hunched over more than usual; yellow-tinted eyes instantly finding the floor exceedingly fascinating as ears and fingers twitched lightly.

It was then that Aerrow wasn't quite sure where he stood on the matter. Judging by Stork's current posture; he couldn't decide if he was dealing with a skittish pilot or a partially wayward child!

"Stork..."

Stork's eye twitched nervously; and this was just at the way Aerrow had drawn out his name!

Thankfully; there's always that one guy on a team. You know; that one guy who seems to bustle in at the most awkward of moments, the one who likes to flip the situation entirely, the ego-maniac you just can't seem to hate.

"Dude! What the hell was that??"

Ah Finn. The paint soaked blonde.

Aerrow's head immediately snapped over to the other older teenager "Finn?...Why are you...?"

"Well!" He immediately swiped fiery red paint out of his constant blazing blue eyes "I **was** painting a mural for my guitar on my wall," a glare was shot to the eldest in the room as Finn attempted to spike up his currently flattened hair "When **somebody** thought it'd be fun to throw the ship around like a hacky-sack!"

Another wince from Stork, ears flattening further under this constant pressure. It was all he could do not to break down into a fit of hyperventilation.

"Yeah, about that Stork," Aerrow continued; albeit much softer as he gently motioned for Finn to back off in a swatting like motion "What gives?"

A sigh escaped the green-skinned Merb; his hand immediately took rest at the right side of his head, massaging a growing headache that was forming around his temples "It's...a long story..."

"Ooh stories!" Anyone could tell that there was just a hint of vengeful pleasure in Finn's otherwise innocent remark. The blonde saw fit to skip his paint covered self over to the opposite side of the room for, as he'd put it, _"a better view of the action." _ "I love stories." A playful smirk; in other words _"I like interrogation!"_

Stork groaned at the prolonged agony. Why he was trying to evade it was beyond him; he knew that sooner or later he'd have had to tell Aerrow anyway; after all, chances are he would have suspected something when they landed on the terra and Stork was no-where to be found.

A sigh of submissive defeat brought a nod from the youngest on the team; his posture relaxed from 'strict captain' to 'open friend.'

"What's up Stork?"

Yellow-tinted orbs immediately looked up at him; seeming to speak volumes when combined with the tone of his voice "My mom's pregnant!"

And just like that, both green and blue eyed boy spontaneously let out two startled gasps of surprise; staring at the Merb in shock.

"Whoa!! But you're...Dude!!" Finn shakily stood up to face them "In like, ten years; you could be the kid's dad!"

Aerrow on the other hand was just scratching his head; hand on hip and eyebrows knitted together in slight confusion "Um, I know that the possibility of having a sibling might scare you Stork..." he licked his lips in thought; glancing down at the ground "but, isn't this supposed to be...well I don't know, maybe a good thing?"

"**No!!**"

And for the second time in two minutes; the captain was sent stumbling backwards in shock,

"Wh-Wha..."

"This is awful!" Stork finally submitted to his weakening legs; falling knees first on to the ground and hunching over with his head in his hands.

Finn and Aerrow each shared an uneasy glance,

"Dude...Maybe you're taking this-"

"She's going to eat me!!"

Any passersby would think that Aerrow and Finn; either had some strange, shared, medical condition where they constantly lost their balance, or just plain loved to land rear-first of the cold, hard floor of the Condor.

Finn's eyes were impossibly wide by this point, jaw slack enough to illustrate the point "Dude, Why?? What did ya say to her??"

"Oh I didn't say anything!" the poor Merb whined, looking at them both with an expression of utter helplessness "It's just the Merb tradition! If your kid's a failure; you eat them when you have another!"

And just like that Aerrow felt a strangely shared fantasy of children being replaced by their parents take physical form. It took him a few blinks and a head-shake to clear the image out of his head.

"Stork that's terrible! You can't go back!"

"I have to," he moaned, looking sullen "I mean; if I don't she'll hunt me down and eat me anyway!" another sigh "And plus; it's not her fault. It's just one of those uncontrollable things...like memory loss; it'll just take her and then she won't even remember doing it." He let a small sob sounding like sigh escape "Just...cover your eyes, ok?"

Determination in his eyes glazed over Aerrow's dread; a wry smirk played on his lips "No."

A groan from the elder one "Aerrow..."

"No Stork. We're **not** going to cover our eyes because you're **not** going to be eaten," He came over and bravely put a hand on Stork's bony back with a resounding_ slap_. "You're going to see your mother, you're going to meet your baby sibling; and you're going to live!"

The boy's brave words nibbled at Stork's curiosity; prompting the Merb's ear to perk up ever so slightly "I-I don't..."

"You're going to live because you're part of the Storm Hawks! A pilot to the carrier Ship!" Aerrow grinned "She's gonna be so proud!" he narrated as he leapt up on his toes; bounding over to the ship's controls with Finn laughing almost hysterically in the background.

Stork moaned once again with a whimper "I'm gonna get eaten..."

_Tbc._


End file.
